I've been thinking about titles lately. Especially: Product Manager.
There was a time when it fit. As the first PM, my zoom level, my impact, the way I worked - the title described it well. But the role shifted quickly. My work evolved, my focus changed, and everyone could see it. We just didn't say it out loud. Out of habit, or politics, or because it was easier not to.
So the title stuck, even as it stopped accurately describing what I do - or how I do it. And that's the part I've found hard to sit with. I don't want a label to define me when the reality is different. I'd rather let the work, the impact, and the momentum speak.
There's a reason companies box roles with titles and processes - predictability. As they scale, they need certainty about who owns what, how decisions get made, how the machine will run quarter after quarter. It makes sense. But for me, predictability often trades away momentum. I thrive in spaces where ownership is fluid, where the job is simply "do what it takes to move the product forward." When the role narrows, I feel the edges close in.
What I keep coming back to is that titles describe a function, not a person. The work that actually matters - testing assumptions early, connecting strategy to detail, making the call when nobody else will, keeping things moving when ambiguity would otherwise stall them - none of that lives in a job description. It lives in the people willing to pick it up.
Titles fade. The work stays.
